Slurping a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks isn’t the only bucket list item I ticked off in New York. I’ve been to New York on all four of my visits to America, and I’ve been dancing since I was five, yet I’d never taken a dance class in New York... until last month.
The first step was to choose a dance studio. The two I looked into were Steps on Broadway and Broadway Dance Center. The second studio offered the classes I wanted on the day I had free.
I arrived early to make an account, get a card and part with $44 for two classes.
There are 6 different levels, with 1 being the most basic and 6 the most advanced.
The first class I selected was level 6 Advanced Theater Jazz with James Kinney. We began with a warm up, followed by progressions to Hot Lunch. It was a song I’d performed to at a dance concert in 1999 - the first year I began taking jazz classes.
After progressions we began learning a dance routine to Nutbush, which features in the new Tina Turner musical. Most people from Australia will know the intense party dance that goes with the song, so I knew I’d have the stamina, but how would I go picking up the chorey? I had a lot of fun learning the sassy, sharp dance moves.
Here I am with my awkward jazz hand just to prove I was there.
My next class was level 4 intermediate tap with Mark Albrecht. It began right as the jazz class was finishing, but was located in a different room, on a different level. I tip toed in my tap shoes into a class where the moves were taught really fast, and they had names I’d never heard. The teacher was talking about paradiddles and spanks, and even flaps looked different. Who knew there was a different tap vocabulary on the other side of the world? My attempts to learn the choreography in this class were a little like that time Monica from Friends did a tap class.
I checked out some New York City sights on the walk from the studio to Penn Station.
Broadway Dance Center
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